Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies

Dear HumanDHS network friends,

many thanks go to Karen Hirsch for making us aware of this NY Times opiniator article:

Distant Wars, Constant Ghosts

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/distant-wars-constant-ghosts/?emc=eta1

Author Shannon P. Meehan is also co-author of: Meehan, Shannon and Thompson, Roger (2010). Beyond Duty: Life on the Frontline in Iraq. Oxford: Wiley, John & Sons.

Thanks to Evelin Lindner for pointing at this important book.

Kind regards,
Uli Spalthoff

Dear HumanDHS network friends,

may I bring to your attention the seminar announcement below.

Kind regards,
Uli Spalthoff

Seminar on Education and Peace,
15th -16th May 2010, MUMBAI, INDIA

World Peace Movement Trust is currently accepting submissions for its International SEMINAR ON EDUCATION AND PEACE to be held in MUMBAI, INDIA, on MAY 15th-16th, 2010.

Submissions are welcome from people of political science, education, economics and other social sciences, and related disciplines. We are expecting participation of peace experts, academicians, teachers, students, NGO leaders, organizers, activists, and other interested professionals from all parts of the world.

Our intention is to welcome scholars from a wide range of interests within the academic community and educated members of public. The papers presented at the Seminar will be published in an edited book.

RELATED THEMES

• Peace Education

• Education in Globalization

• Gandhian Philosophy

• Jawaharlal Nehru’s Ideas

• Conflict Resolution

• Peace Studies

• India in Regional and Global Politics

• Democracy

• Economics

• Environmental Issues

• Other Areas of Social Science

LANGUAGE/SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS AND PAPERS

The official language of the Seminar is English and abstracts should be written in English only. Each applicant should submit a paper proposal (max. 500 words) and a brief CV (max. 200 words) of his/her academic affiliation/research topic/general research interests.

Abstract are to be submitted by e-mail at: wpmt.conference.2010 /at/ gmail.com and to the Convener and Coordinator by March 15, 2010. Accepted papers will be announced on March 30, 2010.

ACCOMODATION

Accommodation costs will be covered by the participants. Many hotels are available in Mumbai. We can help in the matter of price of hotels available during that period. Detailed information about accommodation will be provided to the participants after the acceptance of the paper proposals.

TRAVEL

Travel costs will be covered by the participants. Details about the travel information and how to reach to Hotels and Conference Place will be provided to the participants after the acceptance of the paper proposals.

FEES

Conference Fees are set to equal to 100.00 Euros (in India currency) and payable at the time of registration for all participants. The fee covers expenses of for conference book publication, welcoming and farewell receptions, a trip to the city and transportation during the conference.

Important Dates: Deadline for abstract submission : March 15, 2010

The El-Hibri Peace Education Prize recognizes outstanding peace educators based in the United States by awarding $10,000 annually to an individual or organization making valuable contributions to peace education and social justice in the Middle East.

They are currently accepting nominations until June 6, 2010.

Click here for more information: www.elhibriprize.org/

The article below was re-published by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity. English Edition. 23 February 2010

Islam in Bosnia: an interview with Armina Omerika
Claudia Mende

Bonn, Germany - Islam has been practiced in Bosnia for centuries. Freelance writer Claudia Mende asks Armina Omerika, an expert in Islamic studies at the University of Erfurt in Germany, whether the Bosnian Islamic tradition could serve as a model for the integration of Muslims in other European societies.

How has Bosnian Islam come to terms with the non-Muslim Bosnian state?

Armina Omerika: This question arose for the first time in 1878, when Bosnia came under Austro-Hungarian rule. One could say that Bosnian Muslims have been living under “foreign rule” ever since. Even then, there were heated debates as to whether Muslims could live in a non-Islamic state. Reformers like Dzemaludin Causevic, leader of Bosnian Muslims from 1914 to 1930, were in favour of a modus vivendi [a temporary agreement between disputing parties allowing for peaceful coexistence until a formal settlement can be reached]. Naturally, this modus vivendi has changed through the years.

What issues were particularly controversial?

Omerika: There were fierce debates between Muslim intellectuals and scholars about the secularisation of education, the status of women in society and the reform of Islamic law. Since the Austro-Hungarian occupation, Islamic law has been restricted to family and inheritance laws.

One particularly controversial issue was the extent to which women could operate in public. The question of Islamic banks and interest rates was also discussed, as was the way in which the community should come to terms with non-Islamic administrative structures and systems of rule. Many areas of life were secularised - bit-by-bit. However, the impetus to reform Islamic law and to secularise society also came from within the Bosnian Muslim community, not from outside.

In other words, nothing can be achieved by applying pressure from the outside alone?

Omerika: Nothing much can be achieved without an intra-Muslim debate. In Europe in particular, Muslim communities are very diverse. They frequently disagree with one another and are poorly linked. Dialogue within the Muslim community is the first prerequisite for solving integration problems in European societies.

What was the situation during the period of Communist rule?

Omerika: Secularisation in Bosnia peaked during the period of Communist rule [beginning in the 1940s]. Although the roots of secularisation reach back to Muslim groups and debates in the early 20th century, the Communists enforced secularisation from above and coupled it with repressive measures against the Muslim community. Secularisation was implemented in a way that is out of the question for contemporary democratic states.

Did this forced secularisation lead to a religious revival?

Omerika: From the mid-1960s onwards, there was a phase of liberalisation and a hint of religious freedom, which led to a religious revival. Semi-legal movements and informal networks that had continued to exist underground were now able to speak out in the Communist state.

Is there an overlap between Islam and Bosnian nationalism?

Omerika: Ever since the Bosnian War [from 1992 to 1995], the Muslim community has supported a form of political nationalism in which ethnic national identity is equated with religious and political identity. Accordingly, alliances are repeatedly formed between the Muslim community and the various Bosniak (i.e. Bosnian Muslim) parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina that have a nationalist outlook.

Muslim communities in Western Europe, on the other hand, are made up largely of Muslims who have migrated there since the 1950s. Since then, Muslim life of an unprecedented diversity has developed. This diversity is not only of an ethnic, but also of a theological nature. There are linguistic, ethnic and doctrinal barriers amongst the Muslims of Western Europe which make it impossible to transfer aspects of Bosnia’s Muslim community to other regions of Europe.

And what about the theological aspects? Could they act as a model?

Omerika: In Bosnia, the tradition of open Muslim discourse is as old as the Muslim community itself. While there are conservative currents, they are part of an ongoing debate.

A milestone in Bosnian Islam was the re-establishment of the Faculty of Islamic Studies in Sarajevo in 1977. Islamic scholars such as Enes Karic and Fikret Karcic, who work at Europe’s only Muslim faculty at a state university, have developed groundbreaking concepts for the integration of Islam into a secular state.

Is the status of Islam a topical issue in Bosnia?

Omerika: Mufti Mustafa Ceric is particularly controversial. Many accuse him of positioning himself as a political player and overstepping the bounds of his role as a religious leader. They also say that he is mixing Islam and politics and poses a threat to the secular character of the state.

In addition, Salafism [a conservative Sunni movement originating in Saudi Arabia] and its missionary efforts are a regular theme in the Bosnian press. In contrast, hardly anything is said about conservative Christians from the United States acting as missionaries to Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox youth. The same holds true for the close ties between the Serbian Orthodox Church and the state structures. The debate about Islam and its role in society has become a kind of ersatz discourse for debates about religion in general.

###

* Claudia Mende is a freelance writer. Armina Omerika is Assistant Professor at the University of Erfurt, Germany. This abridged article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from Qantara.de. The full text can be found at www.qantara.de.

Source: Qantara.de, 12 February 2010, www.qantara.de
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

About CGNews

The Common Ground News Service (CGNews) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations. CGNews is available in Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Indonesian and Urdu.  To subscribe, click here. For an archive of past CGNews articles, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org .

The Common Ground News Service provides news, op-eds, features and analysis on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations. CGNews syndicates articles that are constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, to news outlets worldwide. Read our past issues .

Comments? Please email us at cgnews /at/ sfcg.org.

We welcome contributed articles by local and international experts who offer constructive insights and analysis on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations.

The Common Ground News Service is headquartered at 1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20009 USA.
This service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international non-governmental organization (NGO), headquartered in Washington and Brussels, whose mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial confrontation towards cooperative solutions.

The article below was re-published by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity. English Edition. 23 February 2010

The origins of sectarian tension in Egypt
Osama Al-Ghazali Harb

Cairo - A complex and rampant phenomenon in Egyptian society, sectarian violence has been infesting Egypt for a long time, spawned as a result of a host of economic, social and cultural woes.

There is a direct and undeniable link between the emergence of these tensions on the Egyptian political landscape and the political system in place since the 1952 military coup. Sectarian tensions have blighted Egyptian society because of the ill-advised policies pursued by the ensuing regimes, such as former Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat’s unwise and inflammatory decision to label himself “The Muslim President of a Muslim state”, the constitutional amendments he made to Article 2 (which states that Islam is one of the principle sources of legislation) of the Constitution, as well as his moves to bolster the presence of Islamic political groups.

A reading of the Egyptian political scene during the time of the 1952 July coup may also help draw significant conclusions. Many of the Free Officers, members of the army who orchestrated the coup, had ties to or were even members of the Muslim Brotherhood, including Nasser. And there was not a single Christian among them.

And despite the fact that the regime launched an attack on the Brotherhood after former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s attempted assassination, believed to be by other Brotherhood leaders, it was itself extremely reticent about including Christians within its ranks, evidence that the basic make-up of the regime has helped fuel Egypt’s sectarian tensions.

In addition, some observers allege that Christians in Egypt have been subjected to systematic forms of discrimination that have alienated them and left them so disgruntled that some became radicalised. This sorry state of affairs can be attributed to the lack of true democracy, which in turn undermines tolerance and harmony and fuels fanaticism and bigotry.

This bleak picture dominating Egypt’s domestic front today is in stark contrast with the peaceful coexistence that used to mark the harmonious relations between the Muslim majority and the Christian minority in the years between the 1919 revolution against the British occupation and the 1952 coup.

There is no doubt that the political debacle experienced by Egypt in the wake of the 1952 coup - which manifested itself through the strict censorship of the media, the abolition of political parties and an iron grip imposed on civil society - took its toll on Muslims and Christians alike. However, Christians were further deprived of assuming any posts in intelligence or security agencies. This blatant injustice inflicted on the Christian minority played a crucial role in compounding the Coptic predicament of political dissatisfaction.

Moreover, political and cultural awareness has considerably deteriorated because of the absence of intellectual enlightenment in Nasser’s era, eroding the basic values of citizenship, equality and national unity.

Today we are in dire need of launching an awareness campaign to lead people to embrace the lofty values of religious tolerance and to renounce bigotry. The mass media and educational institutions can take this message far and wide.

We must also bear in mind that the current deplorable economic and social conditions that have led to more than 30 per cent of the Egyptian population living under the poverty line, has easily made Egypt a breeding ground for social ills like extremism and religious fanaticism.

Some religious facilities, whether Muslim or Christian, have been embroiled in vicious campaigns inciting hatred and stoking extremism on both sides. The houses of God mustn’t be used as strongholds to disseminate erroneous and slanderous ideas, further entrenching divisions between Muslim and Christian communities.

We are facing real threats to our social cohesion and our future as a nation. We must live up to this challenge and be keenly alert to this looming danger that jeopardises our national unity.

###

* Osama El-Ghazali Harb is Editor-in-Chief of the monthly Al Siyasa Al Dawliya published by Al-Ahram and is one of the founders of the Democratic Front Party. This abridged article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from the Daily News Egypt. The full text can be found at www.thedailynewsegypt.com.

Source: Daily News Egypt, 2 February 2010, www.thedailynewsegypt.com
Copyright permission is granted for publication.
About CGNews

The Common Ground News Service (CGNews) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations. CGNews is available in Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Indonesian and Urdu.  To subscribe, click here. For an archive of past CGNews articles, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org .

The Common Ground News Service provides news, op-eds, features and analysis on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations. CGNews syndicates articles that are constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, to news outlets worldwide. Read our past issues .

Comments? Please email us at cgnews /at/ sfcg.org.

We welcome contributed articles by local and international experts who offer constructive insights and analysis on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations.

The Common Ground News Service is headquartered at 1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20009 USA.
This service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international non-governmental organization (NGO), headquartered in Washington and Brussels, whose mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial confrontation towards cooperative solutions.

The article below was published by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity. English Edition. 23 February 2010

On the road to better Lebanese-Turkish relations
Mohammad Noureddine

Beirut - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s recent visit to Turkey was a milestone in Lebanese-Turkish affairs.

For the first time, Hariri and a Lebanese delegation of eight ministers met with Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan and many other Turkish business leaders and investors. More important than this unprecedented meeting were the meeting’s outcomes, which included eliminating entry visas between the two countries for the first time since the breakup of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War when Lebanon came under French control.

For decades, many Lebanese - both Christian and Muslim - harboured negativity toward the Turkish state. The Christian Lebanese community felt that during the Ottoman Empire the Turks treated Christians as second-class citizens. Christian religious leaders, part of the then Christian majority in Lebanon, were instrumental in attempts to achieve Lebanese independence from the Turkish Sultanate. Add to this the influx of tens of thousands of Ottoman citizens of Christian Armenian origin to Lebanon during the First World War, especially after the mass killings in 1915 when they were perceived as a threat to the Ottoman state.

Muslim sentiment in Lebanon is no less important. The end to the Ottoman caliphate and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 generated anger among Muslims in Lebanon and the region who wanted Turkey to remain a leader of the Muslim world. Hence, secular trends within the Turkish government, instituted by Turkish President Kemal Ataturk, negatively influenced the outlook of many Muslim Lebanese toward Turkey.

A third factor limiting positive Lebanese relations with Turkey was the latter’s recognition of Israel in 1950, a country not recognised by Lebanon.

Aside from a brief period in the 1950s when Lebanon and Turkey shared similar interests against Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s pan-Arab movement and a common political affiliation with the United States, there has been very little positive interaction between the two countries at the government level.

In this context, the Hariri trip could not have taken place at the level at which it did, and with the resultant outcomes, without certain factors in place. First, the new government in Turkey - the Justice and Development Party - has prioritised building better relations with countries in the Middle East. Second, amiable developments between Turkey and Syria have played an important role in Turkey’s relationship with Lebanon with Syria has using its influence with the pro-Syrian factions in Lebanon to encourage the country to soften its position toward Turkey.

Regardless of how Turkey practices its secularism, its implementation represents a model in a society formerly divided between the majority Sunnis - numbering 45 million - and the country’s 20 million Alawites, who comprise a sect within Shia Islam.

Lebanon still grapples with public calls to modify its confessional political system, where political and institutional power is distributed proportionally among religious communities. And secularism represents one possible solution for societies comprised of diverse cultures and faiths. As such, multi-religious, multi-cultural Lebanon may have something to learn from the secular Turkish experience, and closer ties with Turkey could prove beneficial in this regard.

However, the Turkish example is not perfect. Turkey still grapples with the existence of laws that when practically interpreted have been considered discriminatory against its religious minority - limiting the personal and religious freedoms of the Alawites. And there is still an ongoing debate on the right to wear the hijab, or headscarf, in public buildings and institutions like universities.

Therefore, the Turkish experience may represent a model for Lebanon in principle, if not always in practice. And in this sense, perhaps Lebanon - with the religious and political freedoms it affords its citizens - could also serve as an example to Turkey, introducing mutual benefits for both countries through a closer relationship based on political, as well as social and cultural interests.

###

* Dr. Mohammad Noureddine is a professor at the Lebanese University, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies in Beirut, and Editor-in-Chief of Choo’un al Awssat magazine in Lebanon. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 23 February 2010, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

About CGNews

The Common Ground News Service (CGNews) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations. CGNews is available in Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Indonesian and Urdu.  To subscribe, click here. For an archive of past CGNews articles, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org.

The Common Ground News Service provides news, op-eds, features and analysis on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations. CGNews syndicates articles that are constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, to news outlets worldwide. Read our past issues .

Comments? Please email us at cgnews /at/ sfcg.org.

We welcome contributed articles by local and international experts who offer constructive insights and analysis on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations.

The Common Ground News Service is headquartered at 1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20009 USA.
This service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international non-governmental organization (NGO), headquartered in Washington and Brussels, whose mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial confrontation towards cooperative solutions.

The article below was published by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity. English Edition. 23 February 2010

Can madrasahs bridge the education gap for British Muslims?
Asim Siddiqui

London - Studies show that poor educational attainment and professional underachievement are prevalent amongst young British Muslims. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an independent development and social research charity, found that British Muslims are less upwardly mobile than their Hindu, Christian and Jewish counterparts. This trend appears consistent across Europe, where Muslims are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than non-Muslims.

Because Muslims are one of the most insular and least economically advantaged groups in Europe, there is a real need to raise aspirations, increase opportunity and mainstream the involvement of young Muslims in society. Local mosques and madrasahs can help.

Britain has an estimated 1,600 madrasahs, weekend or after-school religious learning centres, most of which are associated with mosques. As many as 200,000 Muslim children of all ethnic backgrounds - aged four to mid-teens - attend these madrasahs. The schools range from offering rote learning of religious texts to interactive places where Islamic teaching and mainstream school subjects are taught in fun and creative ways.

Mosque-based madrasahs remain popular with British Muslim families, as they are often the only places where basic Islamic education is available to children. As such, it makes them a largely untapped market for exposing young students to professional and aspirational development.

Unfortunately, some madrasahs are disconnected from the real world and the potential for children to achieve their full potential goes largely unrealised. A recent Open Society Institute report, “Muslims in Europe: A Report on 11 EU Cities”, confirmed that teaching methods in many madrasahs, which include rote learning and strict discipline, are often out of tune with contemporary educational thinking and practice, failing to nurture the skills essential for success in the modern workplace.

Another report by the Islamic Foundation’s Policy Research Centre showed a need for more “joined-up thinking” between messages emanating from madrasahs and those from mainstream education providers. The need for greater engagement between mosques and professional sectors is crucial in building confidence and broadening horizons for Muslims in Britain and across Europe.

One such scheme has been launched by CEDAR (www.thecedarnetwork.com), a European Muslim professional network. It has partnered with Young Enterprise, the UK’s leading business and enterprise education charity, to work in collaboration with mosques to provide professional mentoring sessions within mosques themselves. This innovative approach synergises the special connections many young Muslims have with their local mosque with the wealth of professional experience of CEDAR mentors, helping to provide a learning experience that young Muslims can really engage in.

The mentoring programme seeks not only to raise the aspirations of young Muslims, but also to make introductions with Muslim professionals who can act as career role models with whom they can build long-term connections.

For example, a recent event held at Tawhid Mosque in London saw an interactive session consisting of a range of experiential learning activities for the mosque’s madrasah students and other local youth. This included life mapping (tools and techniques to help young people plan for the life they want), skills development and a competition for the best social enterprise business plan involving the building of a community centre. This competition encouraged students to think of the practical needs of their local community - comprised of Muslims and non-Muslims - beyond those of their own faith community.

Unusually, the mosque - considered to be one of the more socially conservative in Britain - allowed a mixed group of boys and girls to work together, and saw the value of a programme which allowed Muslim children to be productive in an environment more akin to the real world.

After the session, 13-year-old Bassim el-Sheikh reflected on what he had learnt: “My confidence is much better now; my teamwork is much better; my listening skills and talking skills are much better.”

Mosques in Britain are slowly trying to make themselves more relevant to youth, women and non-Muslims. The larger mosques are seeking to become more holistic centres, not just places of worship, offering English classes, basic computer courses, gym facilities and regular interfaith events.

The more that mosques and madrasahs can be plugged into mainstream society, raising the aspirations of the young Muslims that attend them and providing key life skills, the greater the chances of preventing the mental and physical ghettoisation which has afflicted some British and European Muslim communities, and of contributing to improved levels of education and professional advancement.

###

* Asim Siddiqui is a founding board member of CEDAR, and a founding trustee of the City Circle. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

About CGNews

The Common Ground News Service (CGNews) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations. CGNews is available in Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Indonesian and Urdu.  To subscribe, click here. For an archive of past CGNews articles, please visit our website at www.commongroundnews.org.

The Common Ground News Service provides news, op-eds, features and analysis on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations. CGNews syndicates articles that are constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, to news outlets worldwide. Read our past issues .

Comments? Please email us at cgnews /at/ sfcg.org.

We welcome contributed articles by local and international experts who offer constructive insights and analysis on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations.

The Common Ground News Service is headquartered at 1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20009 USA.
This service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground, an international non-governmental organization (NGO), headquartered in Washington and Brussels, whose mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict - away from adversarial confrontation towards cooperative solutions.

Dear HumanDHS network friends,

please find below the conference announcement.

Kind regards,
Uli Spalthoff

Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (CRONEM)
University of Surrey / Roehampton University

CRONEM 6th ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2010

Joint international conference with the Runnymede Trust (http://www.runnymedetrust.org)

Living Together
Civic, Political and Cultural Engagement Among Migrants, Minorities and National Populations: Multidisciplinary Perspectives

29 – 30 June 2010

University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

This conference will range across different academic disciplines and explore links between academic knowledge, policy, practice and the media. The format will consist of keynote addresses, parallel paper sessions, convened symposia, a poster session and a panel debate organised by the Runnymede Trust.

Speakers already confirmed:
· Benjamin R. Barber, President (CivWorld at Demos) and Walt Whitman Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University, USA
· Constance Flanagan, Professor of Youth Civic Development, Penn State University, USA
· Yvonne Galligan, Director, Centre for the Advancement of Women in Politics, Queen’s University Belfast
· Jørgen S. Nielsen, Director, Centre for European Islamic Thought, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
· Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Westminster, UK
· Antje Wiener, Professor of Politics, University of Hamburg, Germany
Despite the recent ‘Obama effect’, conventional forms of political participation have declined in many countries in recent years, with growing levels of political apathy, disengagement from formal democratic processes and increasing distrust of, or lack of confidence in, political institutions. However, research suggests that issues, which might have mobilised individuals into taking political action in the past, are now being tackled in many cases via voluntary, community or charitable activities, protest movements or consumer activism instead. Hence, current trends in political participation, especially among younger people, may be indicative not of public disengagement per se but of a shift to a different kind of public activism.

Gendered perspectives on cultural, civic and political engagement, which explore the conditions governing women’s participation, as well as perspectives which examine engagement and participation among migrant or minority groups, can be especially illuminating here. Women, migrants and minorities play vital roles in any society, contributing through their skills, labour, taxes, community participation and cultural activities. Yet, when restrictive criteria, practices or policies prevent members of these groups from participating fully in the political, civic and cultural life of the country in which they live, members of these groups often develop novel forms of engagement in order to circumvent the obstacles.

Policy can have a crucial impact on levels of participation, either by creating impediments and barriers to participation by specific groups, or by minimising these impediments. However, policy issues can be complex to tackle, with the policies which exist at different levels (e.g., at community, regional, national and supranational levels) often being incongruent with each other, and with discrepancies frequently existing between intended policy, the content of policy texts, policy implementation, and the interpretation of policy by citizens.

This conference aims to take stock of the different forms of civic, political and cultural engagement which currently exist, and investigate the factors and processes which are driving them. A special feature of the conference this year will be an event organised by the Runnymede Trust, which will consider where Britain stands 10 years after the Parekh Report (http://www.runnymedetrust.org/projects/meb/report.html) on the future of multi-ethnic Britain and 25 years after the Swann Report.

For more information about registration, please visit http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Arts/CRONEM/index.htm

For any conference queries, please contact Ms Melek Muderrisgil (Melek.Muderrisgil@surrey.ac.uk)

Dear HumanDHS network friends,

please note this interesting new book::
Handbook of Prejudice, eds. A. Pelinka, K. Bischof, K. Stögner

Amherst, NY: Cambria Press

http://www.cambriapress.com/cambriapress.cfm?template=4&bid=329

Kind regards,
Uli Spalthoff

Dear HumanDHS network friends,

please note the workshop announcements below.

Kind regards,
Uli Spalthoff

THE JOHN JAY COLLEGE CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM
and the
DISPUTE RESOLUTION CONSORTIUM at JOHN JAY COLLEGE
announce a series of eighteen Conflict Resolution Workshops
Spring 2010

John Jay College is pleased to announce a series of non-credit workshops focusing on skills, tools, and credentials to better understand, manage and resolve conflicts.  These workshops are for everyone: professionals who would like to refresh or develop new skills and individuals who are interested in exploring new ways of handling conflicts. Each workshop is led by a recognized expert and presents state of the art information and skills.

To register or for more information:
Email: CEP /at/ JJay.cuny.edu
Website: www.jjay.cuny.edu/ce (click on conflict resolution)

Scroll down for Instructors’ Bios

A Short Introduction to the Transformative Model of Mediation

The purpose of this 4-session, 6-hour workshop is to expose those who have taken facilitative mediation or related undergraduate courses to the Transformative Model of Mediation by discussing the Relational Worldview the model espouses, identifying human perceptions of what it is like being IN conflict, articulating the transformative tools of intervention and practicing them in role plays. While this is not a complete Transformative Mediation training, it exposes participants to an approach to mediation that many misunderstand and provides an opportunity to experience it with the ultimate goal of taking a more comprehensive training. Components of the training include: Personal Views of Conflict (exercise), Conflict: A Crisis in Human Interaction (lecture and discussion), Opportunities for Empowerment and Recognition Shifts (lecture and discussion), Tools of Intervention (combination of lecture and multiple exercises): Reflect, Summarize, Check in, Question, Silence and Role Plays (exercises).

Instructor: Julie Denny
Tuesdays, March 2 – 23, 6:30 – 8:00 pm; $135 for course

Negotiating Agreements to Get Results

The “core of negotiation” is the give-and-take process utilized to reach agreement. Although this complex process is very important, most of the critical factors that shape negotiations don’t occur during the bargaining process, they occur before the parties face each other.  This 2-session 4 hour workshop will focus on the planning stages and strategies of negotiation, BATNAs, individual perceptions, identifying and distinguishing between issues, needs, interests and opinions.  Components of this training include interactive experiences that will highlight: varying communication styles, tactics and ploys, and distributive and integrative negotiations.

Instructor: Sam Blank
Wednesdays, March 17 & 24, 6:30 – 8:30 pm; $50 for course

Body, Heart, Mind: Somatics and Conflict Resolution

This 41/2 hour experiential workshop series introduces participants to physical/verbal conflict resolution (“embodied peacemaking”) basics. Each of the following 3 sessions is a stand-alone course; together they introduce somatics as a peace building discipline.  $35 for each course; $90 for series

Body Awareness for Conflict Resolution: The body’s natural response to conflict is contraction or collapse of breathing, posture and attention, which in emotional terms is fear, anger or dissociation. In this workshop, you will be introduced to somatic exercises for creating a mind/body state of expansiveness, calm alertness, and compassionate power. These body awareness skills will enable you to prevent the contraction/collapse response and instead maintain a peaceful body and mind during conflicts, which will provide a foundation for resolving conflicts in harmonious and productive ways.

Instructor: Paul Linden
Monday, March 22, 6:30 – 8:00 pm; $35 for course.

Transforming Conflict into Connection and Healing

In conflicts, we get caught up in reactions and stories. By losing contact with natural and relaxed states of being, we have difficulty responding compassionately and effectively in conflict. In this workshop, you will learn ways to tap your physical, cognitive and emotional resources and thereby improve your ability to quickly recover a centered presence when you are challenged and fearful. This will enable you to be alive to own your needs and those of others. Sharing the sense of human contact provides a foundation for developing win/win resolution of conflicts.

Instructor:  David Weinstock
Tuesday, March 23, 6:30 – 8:00 pm; $35 for course

Peace Dojos for Nonviolence Development

This workshop will present the concept of Peace Dojo methods experientially through both word and movement (a dojo setting). You will learn to use your whole self—body, mind and heart—for conflict resolution. The class will present verbal and physical methods of Affirmation, Attention and Community to Transform Conflict into Empathy and Compassion.

Instructor:  William Leicht
Wednesday, March 24, 6:30 – 8:00 pm; $35 for course

Negotiating Under Pressure

This course will provide participants with a unique opportunity to learn lessons from police hostage negotiations, where every situation is a crisis that usually involves violence and weapons, and intuition is essential for resolving each one.  People generally go into a wide range of negotiations with a preconceived notion of how they would like them to turn out.  The goal is to attempt to find some common ground and/or figure out a way to reach a compromise.  You will sharpen your negotiating skills by learning how the police hostage negotiators negotiate some of the most stressful and high profile situations.

Instructor: Jack Cambria
Thursdays, April 8 – 29, 6:30 – 8:00 pm; $125 for course

Effective Negotiation Skills for Getting Ahead

Negotiation skills are at the core of this interactive workshop. The course will enable the participants to get through the stages of bargaining to agreement and it will explore how “Getting to Yes!” can be reached in diverse situations, whether it is a new deal for a house, a car, or even an increase in pay. The workshop is a step-by-step, How-to-approach for skillfully taking each negotiation from engagement to agreement. Through experiential training it will provide the knowledge and insights needed to overcome animosities, turn confrontation into collaboration and to improve existing negotiation skills to achieve successful outcomes. It includes Active Listening, Probing, Assessing Context and Content and much more. The course is designed for managers, professionals and others who wish to enhance their negotiation skills.

Instructor: José Pascal da Rocha
Wednesdays, April 7 – May 5, 6:30 – 8:00 pm & Saturday, May 1; 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (Intensive role-playing session); $150 for course

Conflict in Film

Every good story has at least one conflict in it.  Films screened during the course will offer viewers a variety of opportunities to understand conflict and to gain important and interesting insights into our society, and globally.  This workshop is a unique opportunity to screen and discuss selected fiction film and documentaries that address a variety of simple and complex situations that involve a variety of conflicts, transgressions, human rights violations, and social justice issues.

Instructor: Jill Strauss
Wednesdays, April 14 - May 5, 6:30 – 8:30 pm; $95 for course

Bias Awareness

This workshop will look at many different biases and look at the personal, cultural and institutional forms of these biases. We will also examine ways that we have experienced bias and practice methods for interpreting bias. We will close with ways we can make our work environments safer and more welcoming for everyone.

Instructor: Priscilla Prutzman
Monday, April 19, 6:30 - 8:00 pm; $25 for the course

Verbal Judo: the Gentle Art of Persuasion

A comprehensive course originally developed for law enforcement professionals by Dr. George Thompson, himself a former university professor, police officer and martial artist. Verbal Judo is an amalgamation of western style persuasive speaking and eastern martial arts philosophy. This course will creatively examine methods to ameliorate conflict, ramp down the false ego and raise authentic and legitimate self-esteem. The goal of Verbal Judo is to generate voluntary compliance through the use of presence and words. Verbal Judo can be taught and utilized by anyone who realizes that “people skills” are perishable and at a premium in this complicated and confusing world.

Instructor: James Shanahan
Saturday, April 24, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm; $55 for the course

Managing Anger in Personal and Professional Relationships

This is an interactive experience geared to help participants learn additional ways to manage their own anger, as well as to help others to better handle this emotion. The purpose of this 2-session, 3-hour workshop is to explore a variety of ideas relating to anger and anger management. Different activities will be used to help participants understand and put this information to work in different relationships.

Instructor: Dave Wolffe
Tuesday & Thursday, May 18 & 20, 6:45 – 8:15 pm; $50 for course

Mediation in Your Workplace: The Most Effective, Least Expensive and Most Pleasant Way to Deal with Workplace Conflicts

Conflict and disputes in workplaces are inevitable. Whether over work ethic, culture, management style, perceived unfairness in treatment or promotions, or simply personality clashes, there are so many kinds of work problems. And all of them can be destructive to those involved and get in the way of the work that needs to be done. Many organizations have already instituted mediation as a dispute resolution process to try to nip such problems in the bud. If your workplace does not yet do so, you may be able to help bring mediation in. This interactive course will explain and demonstrate what mediation is and show how you can utilize it in your place of work.

Instructor: Nancy Kramer
Tuesday, May 25, 6:30 – 9:30 pm; $55 for course

*** Instructors’ Bios

Sam Blank is certified as a conflict resolution specialist by the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution and the State of New York.  He is a member of the faculty at Pace University’s Graduate School of Leadership and at the Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York.

Rita Callahan, Principal of Working It Out, is a collaboration and conflict management consultant who works with individuals, companies and organizations to improve interpersonal and organizational communication, and to develop the ability of people, groups and companies to manage conflict and to collaborate effectively.

Jack Cambria, the Commanding Officer of the NYPD’s Hostage Negotiation Team (HNT), is a highly decorated, 27-year veteran of the New York City Police Department and has commanded the HNT for eight years. He also has a total of 16 years experience with the NYPD’s elite Emergency Services Unit.

Elizabeth Clemants, MSW is the founder and principal of DRAFT, a unique business that combines social work, life coaching and mediation to help people work through internal or external conflicts and create positive change in their personal and professional lives.  Ms. Clemants is the former senior director of the Safe Horizon Mediation Program and has been a state-certified basic mediation trainer since 2000.

José Pascal da Rocha, JD is an international mediator. He has over 16 years of experience in multinational crisis intervention and at the corporate level. Apart from his practice, he teaches conflict resolution at diverse universities around the globe. His latest publication is “Inclusion and Diversity as an Intercultural Task – An Essay” in Diversity, Equality and Inclusion – a Research Compendium, Chattenham: Edward Elgar Press, 2009. He is a Professor at Columbia University, a UN mediator at the Mediation Support Unit and he lives in Brooklyn. For more info, go to http://web.me.com/josepascaldarocha.

Julie Denny, an Advanced Practitioner member of both the Workplace and Family sections of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR), is also a mediation panelist for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. Postal Service, the Transportation Security Administration and the Key Bridge foundation ADA program.  A regular reviewer of books on conflict resolution and mediation for Library Journal, Julie has also been featured in Court TV and Bloomberg Network segments on mediation, and been interviewed on a number of radio talk shows.  She is also an Associate of the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation.

Meridith Gould has over 12 years of experience in training and consulting. She has an MS in Dispute Resolution and is a Doctoral Candidate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Her expertise focuses on training/workshop youth empowerment, inner-city youth, violence prevention, social and emotional skill building and educational issues.

Nancy Kramer is an attorney and mediator who has handled hundreds of workplace disputes, as well as other kinds.  She does private mediations and is an active employment mediation panel member for groups, including the American Arbitration Association (AAA), United States Postal Service, New Jersey Superior Court, New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) and New York County Supreme Court, Commercial Division.

William Leicht, M.A., founded the Bronx Peace Dojo and Peace Dojos International. He is a conflict resolution professional and aikidoist with an international reputation.

Michelle M. Leonard is the director of mediation services at Community Mediation Services (CMS).  Michelle is a certified basic mediation and custody and visitation mediation trainer, as well as an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  Michelle graduated magna cum laude from Touro Law Center and is admitted to the New York and New Jersey Bars.

Paul Linden, Ph.D. is a specialist in body awareness education. Dr. Linden is the developer of Being In Movement® mindbody training, co-founder of the Columbus Center for Movement Studies in Columbus, Ohio, a sixth degree black belt in Aikido and a first degree black belt in Karate, an instructor of the Feldenkrais Method® of somatic education and the author of a number of e-books.

Priscilla Prutzman, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Creative Response to Conflict, is co-author of The Friendly Classroom for a Small Planet, the recipient of many awards for her distinguished career in conflict resolution, and has taught courses in assertiveness training, conflict resolution, mediation and bias awareness for colleges including City College of New York, St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, NY, State University of New York at New Paltz, and Woodbury College in Montpelier, VT. She worked with women’s groups and homeless children in the Philippines and taught workshops and courses in the former Yugoslavia, Peru, and Costa Rica.

James Shanahan is a decorated veteran with nearly thirty years in law enforcement.  He is a detective, police trainer and hostage negotiator who holds advanced and specialized certification in conflict resolution, critical incident stress and disaster management. James is a member of the adjunct faculty at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where he teaches the Emergency Psychological Technician program to police recruits, In-Service police officers, Emergency Service and Hostage Negotiations Team personnel, as well as newly promoted supervisors of all ranks. Additionally, he is an accomplished TV, stage and screen actor and a lifelong practitioner of traditional Japanese martial arts.

Jill Strauss is an Adjunct Professor in the Dispute Resolution Program at John Jay College.  She has a Master of Education in Peace Education and Conflict Resolution, and her PhD research and fieldwork is on art and conflict.

David Weinstock, co-founder of Liminal Somatics and originator of the Somatic Consensus method, is a certified Somatic Coach through the Strozzi Institute, a Life Coach, a facilitator of Nonviolent Communication, and an Aikido teacher. He leads trainings locally and around the world— in prisons, and communities on four continents.  David is based in Seattle, Washington.

Dave Wolffe is an adjunct lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.  He is founder and program coordinator of Peace Enhancement Attained-Collaborative Efforts (P.E.A.C.E.) Inc. Mr. Wolffe also developed a training format and manual for facilitators of the Anger Management Power (AMP) Program. He is currently working on a “how-to” guide for parents, educators and others involved with teens, to empower young people to manage anger in positive ways.  The guide is due to be published in 2010.

Alex Yaroslavsky, MILR is the founder of Yaro Group, LLC, a dispute resolution consultancy specializing in workplace conflict resolution.  Alex teaches dispute resolution at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and serves on several mediation and arbitration panels, including the NYC CCRB, OATH, FINRA, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (Southern District).  Alex has been working in the alternative dispute resolution field since 1994 and regularly trains and coaches new mediators.

*** WORKSHOP SERIES COORDINATION
Terrence Harris, MPA, Program Director of Continuing Education
Judith Kornberg, PhD, Dean of Continuing and Professional Education
Maria R. Volpe, PhD, Professor of Sociology and Director, Dispute Resolution Program